Please can we now ban the phrase -'key worker'

[Hoppybunny]

Way back in March it was relevant and distinguishing, but now the economy is creeping back to life why does every other post on mumsnet need to mention that they are a key worker! Surely every worker needs childcare provisions/access to shops etc and this badge of honour needs to end?

It's not a badge of honour.

It's stressful and exhausting ... and despite working all through the Furlough Summer, with no holidays, many of us are facing redundancy anyway.

every worker needs childcare provisions/access to shops

Who are those services provided by?

Well at the moment, keyworkers children still get to go to school, whereas only certain other years get to in the UK, so the term will be around for some time yet.

YANBU. I hate it and think it’s pointless. I hated it in March too tbf. Just say you’re a doctor/nurse/work in a shop/a hospital cleaner fgs

I prefer "critical worker". I don't know why.

When furlough ends, it will be a truly meaningless phrase

Everyone is a key worker as we actually need everyone’s tax revenue to get the economy going now.

I know someone who runs a craft/support group once a week for people with MH issues. Whilst it's very worthwhile, it doesn't warrant her banging on about being a keyworker on Facebook every day. She refers to herself as "someone who works on the front line" 🙄

SodukoBook thank you this is my point!

It’s the Facebook ads that irritate me

Wanted TV for keyworker

Has anyone got an iPhone? I’m a keyworker and mine is broken.

Seen both of those lately.

You mean in England not the UKTabbyMumz

What would you rather they were called?

People whose children are allowed to go to school and have been throughout? Its a bit of a mouthful.

I think keyworker is easier to say personally.

@formerbabe

When furlough ends, it will be a truly meaningless phrase

Bleak but true.

There will be the "employed" and the "unemployed".

Soon to be followed by the "housed" and the "unhoused". And then the bread lines. And then the anger. And then the search for a focus for blame.

Christ it's sad.

The list of people who are classed as keyworkers is so extensive that anyone saying they are a key worker like it's a badge of honour will just sound stupid.

The term 'working the front lines' makes me cringe, it's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard. Just say you're a bloody nurse/doctor/fucking bus driver... Also sick of listening to people moaning over the fact that they've had to do their jobs. And I'm a healthcare worker, I still think all of the attention seeking is ridiculous.

Key worker can stay if you work at Timpsons though

It's nothing to do with furlough. Plenty of non-keyworkers (including me) were not furloughed. Everyone was supposed to keep working if they could do so safely and there was work for them to do.

It's stressful and exhausting ... and despite working all through the Furlough Summer, with no holidays, many of us are facing redundancy anyway.

I'm not a keyworker and I'm in exactly the same position. The options aren't 'keyworker' or 'on furlough'?

I think the problem has been the self identification of key workers for school places and shopping issues etc. My company identified me as a key worker despite the fact that I am certainly not a key worker in any other sense of the word and it just meant I didn't get furloughed. I've heard it on the school forum, well Millie's Mum is a optician, so she is / is not a key worker, Jack's dad works in Iceland Foods so he is / isn't a key worker. One of our other dull friends Emma is in HR for NHS and worked from home even before all this, Is she a key worker?

Thing is, so many people are key workers: most nhs, food, teachers, post, utilities, infrastructure, bins, vets, mechanics, pest control... all the jobs Ive forgotten here... it’s an enormous list! So of course loads of people are going to say “I’m a key worker” coz they probably are, and sometimes relevant (eg what they’ve done for childcare up until now).
If we lived in a nicer world people wouldn’t feel the need to have it as a “badge of honour”, and nor would anyone need feel uncomfortable about having been furloughed.

"Front line key worker" needs to stop. It is cringe inducing and I've noticed it's rarely used by those actually dealing with covid in a hospital environment for example.

I mean this is all proving how badly the system has been understood but:

Everyone is a key worker as we actually need everyone’s tax revenue to get the economy going now.

Keyworkers weren't about keeping the economy going, they were about keeping society going, providing essential services like food, health care, and policing.

Lol at wishforsnow
This is the only acceptable use of the word key worker.
The term keyworker winds me the hell up, and befor you ask I work in retail.

It feels so unfair now though.

I know key workers who are working from home who can send their children to school.

Then people who are working from home but not considered key workers so their children are banned from school premises.